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Need help with Melee Epic Elite Entry Gear and things to farm as soon as I hit Epics

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Need help with Melee Epic Elite Entry Gear and things to farm as soon as I hit Epics

It's my first "serious" attempt at pwning Epic Elite content on a non-pay-to-win melee. I foresee many adversities ahead but thankfully I have all this lovely community that will gladly hjeal me and provide insight, even because Sagas are down and you guys don't have anything else to do.

Problem is: I don't have ANYTHING for an Epic melee, absolutely nothing. The toon is only 14 yet and I was hoping I could use these 6 levels to acquire some useful entry gear, then keep farming on Epics while I level a couple off-destinies I need to unlock LD. I'm aware I won't be able to do EE for about 1~2 weeks (I hope?) with this set-up but I'll try to acquire gear as fast as I can.

Then as soon as I hit Epics:
-- Epic Hard Jeweled Cloak, because I don't think it's possible for me to farm an EE quest with awful drop rates.
-- Epic Gloves of the Claw for 30% Heal Amp.

I'm wondering if I should get a 10% Hamp/20% Hamp/Something Dragontouched Armor (not because it's DT but because it's Healing Amplification) to increase my survivability until I get something awesome. I haven't seen any "omg this is shiny" Epic Armor so far, suggestions?

It depends on which quest/s you want to run on EE, if you are also including places like Stormhorns and the newer content then you are in for the long haul to say the least...

For entering in to epics though look at the PDK vendor stuff in Eveningstar and that should see you through to about level 22/23 when you can use the spider armor from the Demonweb chain. After that wait until 25 and you can use the Flawless Black Dragon armor from Gianthold, add in to this running Caught in The Web for Cleaver and possibly Pinion.

EE is a totally different ball game one in which you will get squashed like a bug in nothing flat if you are not geared up and properly prepared for it, so until then just enjoy running epics

o.o I must thank you from the bottom of my heart, I should have taken a better look at Commendation gear. By the way, do I need Druid's Deep to get that? :x

Originally Posted by Stoner81

It depends on which quest/s you want to run on EE, if you are also including places like Stormhorns and the newer content then you are in for the long haul to say the least...

For entering in to epics though look at the PDK vendor stuff in Eveningstar and that should see you through to about level 22/23 when you can use the spider armor from the Demonweb chain. After that wait until 25 and you can use the Flawless Black Dragon armor from Gianthold, add in to this running Caught in The Web for Cleaver and possibly Pinion.

EE is a totally different ball game one in which you will get squashed like a bug in nothing flat if you are not geared up and properly prepared for it, so until then just enjoy running epics

Stoner81.

Yeah, I'm aware of that. Heroics started to look like a total joke though, groups zerging without giving a damn about anything on Elite underlevel, I tried Epics with my arcane and totally loved it, I finally found a challenge worth aiming for

Start off by getting into some eveningstar city turnin gear. Its pretty good stuff for the first time "non pay to win melee" (whatever the hell that is).

Then I'd recommend doing quests. Run stuff on Epic Hard. Flag for VON, CITW, EGH. Then do Prison and Stormhorns stuff.

Once you do all that you should pickup a good bit of gear on your way to level 28. Then you can decide what you want to do. Do you want to go farm up some specific gear, do you want to really start focusing on EE content, do you want to TR and get a PL or three done..that kinda stuff.

I would not put the cart before the horse I guess is what I mean. Go play the game on content you can handle and get stronger then decide if you just have to farm for x item or whatever.

Destinies will probably be what you really want to start handling EEs. Not just your main destiny maxed out but filling in the other destinies for twists. These can be a real source of survival and self-reliance, offering healing, CC, or just big DPS boosts.
Without details on what your character is there's going to be specifics that are unknown, but you've been giving good advice so far.

Look at the eveningstar commendation turn in for gear at lvl 20 - it's good starter epic gear.
Look at the loot in the eveningstar chains leading up to the Caught in the Web raid. There's some stuff worth having there as you level up.
Demonweb chain gets you trinkets - even if you aren't using the set bonus from CITW weapons, you can slot +3 insightful in your trinket slot for a while if you don't have anything awesome there.
Epic golden guile can be decent - giving you ghostly and improved deception along with bluff if you want that, but grinding seal/shard/scroll is always annoying. Stormreaver's pendant for neck slot can be a nice choice as well, but it's raid gear. If you're looking for other FoT gear though it's worth picking up along the way. Level cap you may want to just get the Eidolon necklace from Haunted Halls - upgraded it's +4 insightful Con/Dex.
High road has Treads of something something - those are usually pretty good boots until you get to high levels and you want goatskin boots or just take the blinding speed feat.
Look around for weapons to use until you're of high enough level to start crafting thunderforged using raid ingredients. CitW has good weapons, and FoT has a few nice weapons as well (I'm a big fan of Rebellion on the right build). FoT is fairly easy to get into an EH group once you learn the quest and most people at level cap are going to overwhelm the raid at that difficulty. CitW is harder to find groups for, and takes longer/is more tedious, and has crappy reward payout.

Flawless Black dragonscale is probably the armor you want once you can wear it. Shadowscale isn't nearly as sexy but it does offer really nice slot consolidation with good fort, ghostly, deathblock and a blue slot. Which you want probably depends on what else you're wearing.

Overall you may just need to plan to work your way up the ladder a bit rather than just grinding for the top end gear right away. There's a big gap in power from being lvl 20 with no destinies or epic gear and being level 28 with full destinies and a good gearset.

o.o I must thank you from the bottom of my heart, I should have taken a better look at Commendation gear. By the way, do I need Druid's Deep to get that?

It actually rather annoys me how super-accessible Commendation gear so far outclasses so many of the the grind-grind-grind shard-seal-scroll items. Most of the Commendation items are quite good for level 20.

No, you don't need the Druid chain. You could get your Commendations just from running King's Forest S/R/E if you wanted, or, as Livmo pointed out, you can get them in the Eveningstar / King's Forest quest chain, too.

Apart from having blur, ghostly and displacement, using an item with improved deception will greatly help your survivability.

Three examples of those are the Seal of House Avithoul, Golden Guile (normal or epic version), and Ring of Deceit. I'd recommend you try to fit it on a non weapon item so that you can always use your best weapons with it.

It will work best if you are a TWF build because of the high attack speed. I haven't tried to use it on a THF build, but I suspect the lower attack speed will make it less useful. Perhaps someone else can speak to that.

I'd also recommend you make sure you have fortification well above 100%, from gear and/or twists. The fort bypass some mobs have in EE, combined with their heavy hitting power, can make for some shockingly large crits.

As stated eveningstar loot is very worthwhile and much harder to obtain than the older epic items, a fact seemingly lost on the devs.

Completing What Goes Up on heroic on any difficulty will give you the guardian's ring for +24 prr, any epic difficulty will add str +8 and a slot, for me this is a must have on any toons.

Displacement clickies, get some friends together (you only need a handful of folks) and run shroud parts 1-3 till you ransack it. Do this every time you come off ransack timer. There's no need to complete as disp clickies are only tier 2 and require medium ingredients and greater shards. I have 9 clickies on my main which works out at 27 minutes of displacement. I still want to make more. If you are going to melee you have to be displaced, its as simple as that.

Problem is: I don't have ANYTHING for an Epic melee, absolutely nothing. The toon is only 14 yet and I was hoping I could use these 6 levels to acquire some useful entry gear, then keep farming on Epics while I level a couple off-destinies I need to unlock LD. I'm aware I won't be able to do EE for about 1~2 weeks (I hope?) with this set-up but I'll try to acquire gear as fast as I can.

Well, you mention wanting to run in LD on EE after unlocking it, implying you wont be starting in the martial sphere. But you dont mention your actual class or build or play style, which makes it pretty hard to offer any advice. You also dont mention if you have run Epic (elite or otherwise) at all before, which limits what comparisons can be offered. Like, if you are on a fighter/paladin using a 2hd, and youve run epic before on a sorc, okay thats one set of things to be said... if youre on a rogue and youve never run epic anything before, thats a different set of things. If youre serious, you need to offer us a better picture here.

In any event, getting fully EE ready will likely take more than 1-2 weeks, barring a very large about of playtime, exceptional luck on drops, or using the store to buy xp. Give yourself a month, understanding that its as much about grinding out destiny xp to give yourself an ability base, as it is about getting any items which will improve your standing. I cannot understate that enough, as nice as items might be, a very large portion of capability will come from destiny work not itemization. Be prepared to xp, a lot (good news is, epic xp is generally pretty fun).

Originally Posted by Nayus

The toon is only 14 yet and I was hoping I could use these 6 levels to acquire some useful entry gear, then keep farming on Epics while I level a couple off-destinies

Looking for items while getting off-destiny xp is a good strategy. But your items are a bit off. The Jeweled Cloak is rather irrelevant next to an unlocked Pale Lavender Ioun Stone and the Mantle of the Worldshaper (both easily obtainable before epic). And Daily Epic Tokens wont factor in hardly at all either... maybe worth it to run the quests a few times but its unlikely youll be farming items from them.

As others have mentioned, running the Eveningstar quest chains (working on the Caught in the Web flag, and completing that saga when they are turned back on) while farming various Commendations to get gear from the traders is the best place to start. The PDK gloves are good for just about anyone, the other items vary more depending on what character/build youre using. But, gearing out 2-6 slots off the traders is a completely valid and practical way to start... thats kind of why those traders are there, to help people jump start into epic.

Doing the High Road chain to get Treads of Shadow for 10% incorporeal is likewise good; it completes another saga after the Eveningstar quests and the boots can show up in the end reward list (EN version is fine). Youll want a Blur item, the Bracers of Twisted Shade (also from High Road chain) are a good starter choice, as they also have Resistance on them (and exceptional seeker for dps). Again, EN version is fine, the end reward list is your friend... and since the end reward items are tradeable dont be shy about asking what rewards others got when you complete, Ive simply swapped straight across several times when a group finished the chain and everyone was after different things.

All together, thats 10% incorp, 20% blur, 30% amp, +6 resistance (or more) and 2 saga completions covered. Add in the Webs of Chaos chain (which you have to do to get out to eveningstar anyhow) and thats a third saga. Rinse, repeat (on EH of course), and its a good farming loop to begin with; without getting into content which is too difficult to do without a gear/destiny base to work from.

As far as Armor specifically, it really depends on the class. At level 20, youll probably still be using heroic armor for a bit, but by 23-25 theres some good choices. I wouldnt run reavers refuge anymore than I had to, but if you have the runes sitting around a 10/20 amp armor will remain useful as a swap even into epic so its not a waste to spend them. I still swap one in on my monk periodically, and hes been capped for ages.

Hopefully thats enough to help with, in addition to what others have said. Providing more details will probably get you better answers, and at 14 you probably have some time to make a good plan yet before epic is upon you. GL.

I think your contribution in EE can start once you have Cocoon and some no-save CC. This allows you to CC a mob and whack it. And you need a group that occupies the rest of the mobs. Your best bet for CC would be something like Adrenaline+Overwhelming Force (more useful for TWF) or Otto's Irresistible Dance (if you happen to be a bard). Stuff like Deception, twisting Balanced Attacks, etc.; that works as well but in this case you'll need to survive few hits until it procs.

If you don't have the CC (or the gear to survive without it), wait for someone else to grab aggro and hit those mobs which are already CCed.

If you're soloing... good luck Keep mobs off Albus so that he can hjeal you.

using an item with improved deception will greatly help your survivability.

Three examples of those are the Seal of House Avithoul, Golden Guile (normal or epic version), and Ring of Deceit. I'd recommend you try to fit it on a non weapon item so that you can always use your best weapons with it.

Agreed. OP, check out Epic Golden Guile - awesome old epic item and fairly easy to get. Eveningstar comm gear is great budget gear - that's already been covered. Hamp/Hamp/Something DT armor is nice, but don't worry about it if you don't already have it. Make Dissplacement clickies for sure and Guardians Ring is a good suggestion. What kind of build are you playing? What weapon(s) are ya using now? Do you have Raider's Boxes? and what type of armor?

Apart from having blur, ghostly and displacement, using an item with improved deception will greatly help your survivability.

Three examples of those are the Seal of House Avithoul, Golden Guile (normal or epic version), and Ring of Deceit. I'd recommend you try to fit it on a non weapon item so that you can always use your best weapons with it.

It will work best if you are a TWF build because of the high attack speed. I haven't tried to use it on a THF build, but I suspect the lower attack speed will make it less useful. Perhaps someone else can speak to that.

Thanks.

Improved Deception is still a must-have for a THF melee. Sure, a TWF will have it go off more often, but it goes off enough to be worth using.

IMO this would be, by far, the most beneficial use of your time before hitting epic levels. If you're
goal is EE then hit avoidance is a much better strategy than PRR and/or AC - IMO of course. Due
to the diminishing returns of PRR (********) you can get ~15 - 20% PRR and sacrifice virtually nothing
on most melee builds anyway and still pack displacement+incorporeal+dodge for ~70% avoidance.

It's my first "serious" attempt at pwning Epic Elite content on a non-pay-to-win melee. I foresee many adversities ahead but thankfully I have all this lovely community that will gladly hjeal me and provide insight, even because Sagas are down and you guys don't have anything else to do.

Problem is: I don't have ANYTHING for an Epic melee, absolutely nothing. The toon is only 14 yet and I was hoping I could use these 6 levels to acquire some useful entry gear, then keep farming on Epics while I level a couple off-destinies I need to unlock LD. I'm aware I won't be able to do EE for about 1~2 weeks (I hope?) with this set-up but I'll try to acquire gear as fast as I can.

Then as soon as I hit Epics:
-- Epic Hard Jeweled Cloak, because I don't think it's possible for me to farm an EE quest with awful drop rates.
-- Epic Gloves of the Claw for 30% Heal Amp.

I'm wondering if I should get a 10% Hamp/20% Hamp/Something Dragontouched Armor (not because it's DT but because it's Healing Amplification) to increase my survivability until I get something awesome. I haven't seen any "omg this is shiny" Epic Armor so far, suggestions?

Depending on what you see as main priority your gear setup changes dramatically and thus you will pick some benchmarks and build around them. For example, my melees are always built around Ghostly + Improved Deception. Especially Improved Deception. This is available on like what 2 named items? Backstabber's Gloves and Golden Guile?

Okay so if I want to use Golden Guile and fit in Healing Amp. then I'd probably used PDK gloves till I get epic hard Backstabber's (epic elite does not provide a bigger benefit). So, I'd have bracers slot free then. That is nice since the new raid bracers are a kind of new *me wants nao!*. But if I had heal amp. bracers I'd use them. Ideally 20%. 30% gloves, 20% bracers + Golden Guile for Improved Deception. But Golden Guile rules out Thunderstruck on Stormhorn Necklace or Stormreaver Pendant, so you may have a trade-off in dps here.

Rings:
1st slot - Heroic Guardian's Ring (ML 19). Provides highest PRR bonus already + a yellow slot for minor bonuses such like Striding. Frees up a blue slot otherwise used for 14 PRR.
2nd slot - Epic Ring of The Stalker Tier 2. Provides basic bonuses for melee and still is bta, so you can move it to more than one toon. Only transgressional gear, though. Epic hard/elite PoP ring or Consuming Darkness might take over at some point.

Cloak:
All my melees use ehard jeweled Cloak. Planar set made switching to Pale Lavendar something potentially dangerous in epic elite. I want to keep maximum PRR all the time.

Boots:
Anything, which complements other gear. I use 30% Striding in a slot so any boots might be an option. Since you mentioned challenges, think about Rock Boots Tier 2. Stone Prison guard used to proc. quite often. Combined with a debuff guard like Enervation or Hysteria (Fleshshaper's) you might have a useful cc till a certain level (22 or 23). Or FoM boots from VoN raid. Best suggestion for FOM might be card cruncher and make yourself a Flask of FoM.

My current melees wear High Road boots. They give Ghostly + DEX.

Deathblock:
I use an augment for that. But for starters situational use of tangleroot clickie is just as good.

p.s.:
This is just out of my head and neither absolute or complete. I'd say most epic normal stuff out of reward lists is a good entry for epic elite as well as turn ins of recommendations. You have to start somewhere. Even some greensteel is still useful, especially Tier 2 displacement clickies.

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